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The Road Ahead: How to Transform

Malaysia’s Regime

Meredith L. Weiss

e wee hours of 10 May 2018 brought Malaysia’s incumbent Barisan Nasional
(BN, National Front) a rude shock and opposition Pakatan Harapan (Alliance
of Hope) a jolt of exuberance. For the rst time ever, the BN had fallen, both
at the federal level and, once the dust settled, in most states. As the foregoing
chapters make clear, this rare display of ‘democratisation by elections’ was
not entirely unexpected, yet a Pakatan victory still relied on a precarious
mix of contingent factors. A combination of shifting interests, alignments,
and grievances; new strategies for mobilising and targeting voters; and new
party alternatives, revamped alliances, and reshu ed teams all played their
part. Indubitably, Malaysia’s government has changed; new leadership is at the
helm. But given what brought us to this point—the latest critical juncture on
the path Johan Saravanamuttu traces—what will it take to move, in the jargon
of political science, from democratic transition to consolidation?
Consolidation of a new regime will require far-reaching, if incremental,
changes in four key domains: laws, institutions and institutional frameworks,
political economy, and, most di cult of all, political culture. Even a partial
shift could carry substantial impact. Simply ousting corruption-tarnished
Najib from executive o ce satis es many protest-voters’ key objective,
without necessarily defusing the communal fears and other uncertainties that
Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid and Che Hamdan Che Mohd Razali, for instance,
suggest could yet sink Pakatan’s ship. But Malaysia has the potential to go
much farther, to rework key premises of political loyalty and legitimacy, the
standards to which voters hold politicians accountable, and the expectations

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